A growing number of U.S. airports are asking for donations to support employees affected by the partial government shutdown, as airport security officials did not receive their first full paychecks on Friday.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees have been working at airports across the United States without pay since the shutdown began in February after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a funding agreement. Since then, Democrats have refused to support a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the TSA’s parent agency, without first receiving assurances of immigration reforms.
Amid the shutdown, TSA workers have faced the need to continue working at airports without pay or finding other ways to generate income.
In response, some airports have started food pantries, while others have asked community members to donate small gift cards for groceries and gas.
However, as some TSA workers do not show up to perform unpaid duties, lines at security checkpoints have intermittently lengthened. For example, on Thursday at Miami International Airport, lines sporadically doubled the normal time spent passing through security checkpoints.
Video of a security line stretching into the parking lot at New Orleans International Airport went viral several days earlier.
The Guardian contacted four other different international airports: Denver, Orlando, Las Vegas and Cleveland. According to officials who spoke to The Guardian, they have seen relatively normal lines and security wait times, even during a busy travel day like Friday and in the middle of the busy spring break travel season.
When asked at the Miami airport how many of his co-workers had called, one agent responded: “It’s not enough. Nothing happens until the public feels some pain.”
Praharsha Pinninti, a recent college graduate who was at the Miami airport on her way home to Raleigh, North Carolina, said the pay issue seemed “crazy” to her.
“I think it’s extremely unfair,” Pinninti added, describing the legislative showdown as “a test of time, a test of patience and a test of our integrity as an issue.”
Airports in Denver, Seattle, Las Vegas, Reno, Cleveland, Orlando, New York and New Jersey have been accepting donations.
Denver airport public information officer Keylen Villagrana told The Guardian that the facility had received “dozens” of gift cards from the public.
Any donation to TSA workers is subject to federal government regulations. For example, employees cannot accept cash or cash equivalent cards, such as a Visa gift card. The regulations also say that all gift cards must be valued at $20 or less.
Meanwhile, staff at Las Vegas International Airport recently launched a food and essentials pantry to support TSA employees during the shutdown. Airport spokesperson Amanda Mazzagatti told The Guardian that the facility had received baby formula, toiletries, household essentials and non-perishable food.
The Las Vegas Food Pantry first opened in 2019 during a prolonged federal government shutdown during Donald Trump’s first presidency. Then, in the fall, months into Trump’s second presidency and during the longest shutdown in American history, the Las Vegas airport food pantry reopened.
“As this shutdown drags on, these workers – some of whom are still recovering from the last shutdown – will really need these supplies,” Mazzagatti said.
At Cleveland’s Hopkins International Airport, employees initially began raising resources themselves for TSA employees trapped by the fall shutdown. But then the public submitted questions about how to help, which led to a food pantry, said Michele Dynia, airport public information officer.
The Cleveland Airport reopened the pantry in early March and began asking for small-dollar donations of food and gift cards.
“The airport is like a family, and this is our way of helping our family members here at the airport,” Dynia told The Guardian.
Since earlier this year, Democrats have been fighting increased funding for DHS agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the two agencies tasked with carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
ICE and CBP agents under the Trump administration have received significant criticism for their aggressive arrest and detention tactics.
Amid the shutdown, Senate Democrats have pushed for a series of smaller bills that would fund specific agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, such as the TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and others unrelated to immigration enforcement. But Senate Republicans have opposed those requests.
George Chidi contributed reporting.
